A sophisticated, thought-provoking historical novel, set in ancient Greece and Sicily. Vansittart is adept at emphasizing the ideas and personal motives behind historical events. The protagonist is fourth century B.C. soldier and political leader Timoleum of Syracuse, who liberated that city from the control of - Carthage - a fine meditation on Western civilization at an early crossroads." - Publishers Weekly. "A concentrated, enigmatic and elegantly cumulative portrait." - Kirkus Reviews. "Certain crucial retouchings in the narrative material lend the work a moral intensity that would have gratified Plutarch himself." - NY Times.